We had a problem in our guest bathroom that when the kid would take a bath, there would be water dripping downstairs right under the tub. The problem here, we realized, was that the kid was spending as much time close to the spout and drain, and his jumping had disengaged the overflow drain connection to the tub. The water was going around and over the overflow drain pipe connection directly from the spout, right at the overflow drain cover.

Overflow drains are designed to expect water entry from the bottom when you fill the tub. There was no rubber seal, a remnant of the original install, and this failure caused some mold to form on the drywall. Also, the previous tile install for the shower walls had zero waterproofing and was directly stuck onto drywall, which, as a consequence of the water seepage, meant there was no structural integrity to the walls, and there was a spot whereupon putting weight on the wall while cleaning the tub, the wall caved in.

I was on Team “remove the tub” to remove a point of failure and possibly make it easy for elders just to use a walk-in shower but was overruled by the other two parties in the house, stating dog baths will be easier to do here.

Fast forward 45 days after that bath was remodeled, with tile replacing the LVP floor, some large format wall tiles with proper waterproofing, and a tub, the same problem resurfaced. The kid takes a bath, and it starts dripping in the kitchen.

Remodels are fun—it’s time to break the wall again.